Sunday, August 31, 2014

With two relatively small wide releases opening over the weekend, Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" enjoyed a healthy three-day gross of $16 million and became 2014's highest-grossing movie with $274 million, surpassing the previous champion "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" which achieved a domestic total of $262 million. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is also enjoying a very solid run, grossing $11.7 million this weekend which adds up to a total of $162 million.

Now, back to the two new releases. First, the spy thriller "The November Man" starring Pierce Brosnan and Olga Kurylenko grossed $7.6 million in five days and ranked sixth in the top 10, a pretty weak result, but not a complete disaster for the $20 million flick. A somewhat better gross was registered by "As Above/So Below", which took in $8.3 million in 3 days and placed fifth. The horror film only cost $5 million to make, so it has actually turned a profit.

This post contains all the news, trailers, movie clips, DVD/Blu-Ray releases and many more, that you may have missed in the last seven days, arranged in an accessible manner. Just browse and click the article titles you want to read. Read the full article to check out the weekly summary.

The official trailer and four clips have been released for the crime comedy "Life of Crime". Based on Elmore Leonard's novel "The Switch", the film stars Jennifer Aniston as the wife of a corrupt real estate developer (Tim Robbins) who is kidnapped by two criminals, played by Mos Def and John Hawkes, who intend to extort her husband with inside information about his crooked business and off-shore accounts. When the husband decides not to pay the ransom, it sets off a catastrophic series of events. The cast also features Isla Fisher, Will Forte, Kevin Corrigan and Clea Lewis.

A new trailer and poster are available online for the prison drama "Starred Up" to announce the U.S. release of the movie. The film stars Jack O'Connell ("300: Rise of an Empire") as a troubled and explosively violent teenager transferred to adult prison where he finally meets his match -- a man who also happens to be his father (Ben Mendelsohn). The cast also includes Rupert Friend ("Homeland"), Frederick Schmidt, Raphael Sowole and Matt Faris.

"Starred Up" opens in theaters today and it is already available on iTunes.

A new red-band trailer and five TV spots have been released for the found-footage horror film "As Above, So Below". Directed by John Erick Dowdle ("Devil", "Quarantine"), the film tells the story of a team of explorers who discover a gate to hell in the catacombs beneath Paris. The cast features Ben Feldman, Edwin Hodge, Perdita Weeks and James Pasierbowicz.

You can check out the pictures and read the synopses after the jump. Here is a short description of the new images :

A new official image for the drama "Serena" starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. The film will be released on October 24th in the UK and November 12th in France.

A new image featuring Nicole Kidman from the family film "Paddington" which also stars Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent and Peter Capaldi. Opens in theaters on December 25th.

Three new images for Andrew Niccol's thriller "Good Kill" starring Ethan Hawke, January Jones, Zoe Kravitz and Bruce Greenwood. The film will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

A new international trailer and some fresh posters have been released for Alexandre Aja's horror drama "Horns". The film is an adaptation of Joe Hill's novel and it stars Daniel Radcliffe ("The Woman in Black") as a young man who wakes up with a pair of horns on his head and seeks revenge for his girlfriend's rape and murder. The cast also includes Max Minghella, James Remar, Sabrina Carpenter, Joe Anderson and Kelli Garner.

Sandra Bullock ("Gravity") has been confirmed to star in the dramedy "Our Brand is Crisis". The film will be directed by David Gordon Green ("Pineapple Express") and it is based on Rachel Boynton's 2005 documentary of the same name. The plot revolves around the use of American political campaign strategies in South America. Bullock has been in talks for the part since December 2013, and inside sources have stated that the actress was convinced to join the project by the strength of the director's vision. The film will be produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, and the screenplay has been penned by "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" writer Peter Straughan. Sandra Bullock is also attached to star in Tate Taylor's "Tupperware Unsealed".

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

The 2014 Emmy winners were announced and apart from the usual array of snubs, there were simply not that many surprises. It was a particularly good year for veteran television series. "Breaking Bad" swept the dramatic categories, winning Best Series, Best Actor (Bryan Cranston for a fourth time), Supporting nods for Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn, as well as Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. This meant that "True Detective" missed out on most major awards, especially for Matthew McConaughey who many expected to add an Emmy to his hot streak of awards this year. Julianna Marguiles took home her second Emmy award for her performance as Alicia Florick in "The Good Wife".

On the comedy front, "Modern Family" won Best Series for a fifth consecutive year, matching the previously held record of "Frasier". In the miniseries categories, "Fargo" won Outstanding Miniseries and Outstanding Directing, while "American Horror Story: Coven" took home the awards for Outstanding Lead Actress (Jessica Lange) and Supporting Actress (Kathy Bates). This year was also great for "Sherlock", which scored three wins: Outstanding Lead Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), Outstanding Writing (Steven Moffat) and Outstanding Supporting Actor (Martin Freeman).

Monday, August 25, 2014

Three clips and a batch of ten images have been released for the crime thriller "A Walk Among the Tombstones". Written and directed by Scott Frank, the writer of "The Wolverine" and "Minority Report", the film stars Liam Neeson as a an ex-NYPD cop who now works as an unlicensed private investigator operating just outside the law. Dan Stevens, David Harbour, Sebastian Roché, Whitney Able and Boyd Holbrook also star.

The first trailer and poster for the horror sequel "The Woman in Black: Angel of Death" have been released. The first film starred Daniel Radcliffe and this sequel takes place 40 years after the first haunting at Eel Marsh House, but since this trailer is just a teaser, it doesn't reveal anything about the story or how it plans to expand on the first film, apart from the longer title. For more about what the plot is all about, you can read the official synopsis after the jump. The film stars Helen McCrory, Jeremy Irvine, Adrian Rawlins, Amelia Pidgeon and Ned Dennehy.

"The Woman in Black: Angel of Death" opens in theaters on February 13, 2015 in the UK.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

"Guardians of the Galaxy" continues its impressive box-office run by returning to the top this weekend with a solid $17.6 million gross that surpassed the week's new releases. Marvel's newest sci-fi adventure is followed closely by the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" reboot which took in $16.8 million over the weekend and is enjoying a solid run with over $200 million grossed worldwide.

The teen melodrama "If I Stay" starring Chloe Grace Moretz enjoyed a great opening weekend by grossing $16.3 million and managed to rank third behind the Guardians and the Turtles. The film only cost $11 million, so it has already turned a profit.

The biggest disappointment of the weekend is Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's sequel "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" which despite being a follow up to a ground-breaking hit and featuring an all-star cast, failed to make an impression and opened eighth with a poor $6.4 million 3-day total.

On a slightly more positive note, the true story sports drama "When the Game Stands Tall" starring Jim Caviezel managed to take fifth place in its first weekend with $9 million versus a $15 million budget. While the result can't be described as an overwhelming success, it's a solid foundation for the inspirational drama which despite poor critical reviews seems to have found its target audience and is looking to improve its numbers next week.

This post contains all the news, trailers, movie clips, DVD/Blu-Ray releases and many more, that you may have missed in the last seven days, arranged in an accessible manner. Just browse and click the article titles you want to read. Read the full article to check out the weekly summary.

The first images have been released for the horror drama "Maggie" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Abigail Breslin and Joely Richardson. The story follows a farmer (Schwarzenegger) who struggles to protect his teenage daughter (Breslin) who has been infected by an outbreak of a disease that slowly turns the infected into zombies. The film only has a release date set for Malaysia (November 20, 2014), but it will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

20th Century Fox has amped up the publicity campaign for "The Maze Runner", so we have a new theatrical trailer, ten posters, two clips and a behind-the-scenes featurette. Based on the young-adult novel by James Dashner, the film stars Dylan O’Brien, Will Poulter, Kaya Scodelario, Aml Ameen, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee and Patricia Clarkson.

A new trailer and poster have been released for the drama "White Bird in a Blizzard". Shailene Woodley stars as a teenager who is faced with the sudden disappearance of her mother (Eva Green) and must navigate her own repressed emotions and denial regarding the events surrounding her dysfunctional family. Written and directed by Gregg Araki based on Laura Kasischke's novel, the film also stars Shiloh Fernandez, Christopher Meloni, Gabourey Sidibe, Thomas Jane and Angela Basset.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

A new image and six character posters have been released for "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1". The image was released by Entertainment Weekly and it is joined by an interview with franchise director Francis Lawrence who discusses the sequel's scope, how the book's plot was adapted and what part Julianne Moore's character will play in this movie:

"There’s definitely some battles. There’s some of the first glimpses of real war in this movie. And the scale gets quite big. There’s an atonal shift from some of the last movies, but they’re still very emotional, very sweeping, [on a] grand scale with some levity and humor.

Instead of changing the plot and changing characters what we did was have the opportunity to show scenes that could have been happening at different times in the book. For us it’s world expansion instead of changing things. I think it’s exciting for the fan to see certain things. So we’ve been able to open the world up in this and see some new places. We get to see some new districts this time and the scope gets quite large.

[About Moore's character Alma Coin] What’s interesting is although she’s a huge character in Mockingjay the book, there’s actually very little of her in it. There’s more of her in this than in the book and because of that, there’s some development."

First off, this is not Disney's "The Jungle Book" movie, but Warner Bros' version of Rudyard Kipling's story titled "Jungle Book: Origins" which will be directed by Andy Serkis. THR reports that Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hollander, Eddie Marsan and Peter Mullan have joined the cast of this version, which will be a mix of motion capture, CG and live-action. The live-action part will be that of Mowgli, who will be played by Rohan Chand ("Bad Words"). Bale will voice Bagheera, Blanchett has signed on to voice Kaa, Cumberbatch will lend his voice to Shere Khan, and Hollander will voice Tabaqui, the jackal. The other characters assigned will be part of the wolf pack that adopts Mowgli: the pack's leader Akela (Mullan), Nisha (Harris) and Vihaan (Marsan), Nisha's mate. "Jungle Book: Origins" opens in theaters on October 21, 2016.

Today we have a collection of nine new clips for the sequel "Dolphin Tale 2". Written and directed by Charles Martin Smith, the film continues the story of the people who saved Winter's life. The team reassembles in the wake of the dolphin's surrogate mother's passing in order to find her a companion so she can remain at the Clearwater Marine Hospital. The film stars Ashley Judd, Harry Connick Jr., Morgan Freeman, Nathan Gamble, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Kris Kristofferson, Austin Stowell, Austin Highsmith, with the participation of professional surfer Bethany Hamilton, whose own amazing true story was depicted in the 2011 drama "Soul Surfer".

You can check out the posters and official synopses after the jump. Here is a short description of the posters:

Exclusive new poster for the thriller "The Guest" starring Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Leland Orser, Sheila Kelley, Brendan Meyer and Lance Reddick. Opens in theaters on September 17th in the US and September 5th in the UK.

The first official poster for the Guantanamo drama "Camp X-Ray" starring Kristen Stewart, Tara Holt, Peyman Moaadi and Lane Garrison. Opens in theaters on October 28th.

The first official poster for the horror film "Jessabelle" directed by Kevin Greutert ("Saw 3D") and starring Sarah Snook, Mark Webber, Joelle Carter and David Andrews. The film opens in theaters on August 29th.

The first trailer for the drama "Miss Meadows" has been released. Written and directed by Karen Leigh Hopkins, the film stars Katie Holmes as a proper elementary school teacher who moonlights as a vigilante. James Badge Dale, Mary Kay Place, Callan Mulvey and Jean Smart also star.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

"Fast & Furious" and "Batman V Superman" actress Gal Gadot is set to join the cast of Ariel Vromen's thriller "Criminal". The film will star Kevin Costner as a dangerous prison inmate who is implanted with the memories, secrets and skills of a dead CIA operative. The cast also features Ryan Reynolds, Gary Oldman, Alice Eve, Tommy Lee Jones, Amaury Nolasco, Michael Pitt and Jordi Mollà. Gadot is currently working on "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice" in which she will star as Wonder Woman, and she recently finished filming the crime thriller "Triple Nine" which also stars Aaron Paul and Kate Winslet.

A batch of 10 new clips have been released for "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For". Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, the sequel is based on Miller's graphic novel and it weaves together two of his classic stories with new tales. The film stars Josh Brolin, Mickey Rourke, Eva Green, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Jessica Alba, Jaime King, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Haysbert, Christopher Meloni, Jeremy Piven, Stacy Keach, Jamie Chung, Juno Temple, Alexa PenaVega, Ray Liotta and Julia Garner.

You can watch the behind-the-scenes videos and read the films' synopses after the jump. Here is a short description of the videos :

The first videos from the set of Zack Snyder's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" have begun appearing online. The film stars Ben Affleck as Batman and these videos offer the first behind-the-scenes look at Affleck as Bruce Wayne, as well as a lot of Metropolis destruction. The "Man of Steel" sequel and "Justice League" franchise startup also stars Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, Jason Momoa, Holly Hunter, Scoot McNairy and Jeremy Irons. The film opens in theaters on May 6, 2016.

The first official image for Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice", based on Thomas Pynchon's novel of the same name, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio Del Toro and Owen Wilson. Opens in theaters on December 12th.

The teaser trailer for director Jason Reitman's new film "Men, Women & Children" has been released. The film is an exploration of the challenges and frustrations experienced by teenagers and their parents in the Internet era where relationships and the way we communicate have been altered by technology. The cast features Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, Ansel Elgort, Rosemarie DeWitt, Judy Greer, Dean Norris, J.K. Simmons and Emma Thompson.

"Men, Women & Children" will premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, followed by a limited release on October 3rd.

Monday, August 18, 2014

The first images for the horror sequel "[REC] 4: Apocalypse" have been released. The film is directed by franchise helmer and co-writer Jaume Balagueró, and it features the return of television reporter Ángela (Manuela Velasco) who is rescued from the building where she survived the virus outbreak in the first film. She is taken to a high-security quarantine facility built on an oil tanker to be examined. However, Ángela carries the seed of the mysterious demonic virus and distrust quickly spreads through the isolated facility. The film also stars María Alfonsa Rosso, Héctor Colomé, Paco Manzanedo and Mariano Venancio.

"[REC] 4: Apocalypse" opens in theaters on October 31st in Spain, but it will also premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

The first trailer has been released for the action comedy "Mortdecai". Based on the novel by Kyril Bonfiglioli and directed by David Koepp, the writer of "Jurassic Park" and "Carlito's Way", the film stars Johnny Depp as art dealer Charles Mortdecai, who is on a quest to find a stolen painting that's reportedly linked to a lost bank account filled with Nazi gold. The cast also features Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn, Aubrey Plaza, Jeff Goldblum, Oliver Platt and Paul Bettany.

Three new posters have been released for the sequel "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" featuring Jamie Chung as Miho, Juno Temple as Sally and Ray Liotta as Joey, one old and two new characters for this second installment. Chung replaces Devon Aoki who starred as Miho in the first film. Robert Rordriguez and Frank Miller direct this sequel which also stars Josh Brolin, Mickey Rourke, Eva Green, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Jessica Alba, Jaime King, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Haysbert, Christopher Meloni, Jeremy Piven, Stacy Keach, Alexa PenaVega and Julia Garner.

Today we have a new trailer, clip and two posters for the action thriller "The Prince". The film stars Jason Patrick as a retired assassin who must confront his former rival (Bruce Willis) when his daughter is kidnapped. The cast also features John Cusack, Jessica Lowndes, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, and Rain.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

This weekend "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" still lead in the top 10 at the box-office after poor performances from the week's three new wide releases. While the Turtles are closing in to the $200 million worlwide mark, Guardians has reached and passed that milestone this week.

The R-rated comedy "Let's Be Cops" opened on Wednesday and has grossed $26 million in 5 days, of which $17 million during the weekend, which ranks the movie third in its opening weekend. The $17 million film performed well enough without being as successful as other R-rated comedies.

The Bomb of the Week award must go to "The Expendables 3" which grossed $16 million in its first 3 days versus a budget of $90 million. The film had many things going against it, including a piracy scandal involving a high-quality version of the film that got leaked online, and the fact that it was cut down to a PG-13 rating. The latter is, in my opinion, the worst thing of all. The franchise is popular for featuring old action stars and rebranding the 1980's action violence for today's audiences. Ironically, the film performed poorly among those young moviegoers they were aiming for, maybe because they don't really care all that much about Sylvester Stallone and co., and with films like Ninja Turtles and Guardians in theaters, they have plenty of much cooler modern entertainment available. "The Expendables 3" scored the worst opening weekend in the franchise proving that there is no future for a fourth installment, should they ever decide to make one. And if they ever do, I strongly encourage them to return to an R rating.

In the young adult department we have "The Giver", the adaptation of Lois Lowry's dystopian novel, which managed to gross $12.7 million in its first weekend, a particularly poor performance, but not all that catastrophic for its $25 million budget. It does, however, rank lower than most YA adaptations, particularly "Divergent" and "The Hunger Games".

This post contains all the news, trailers, movie clips, DVD/Blu-Ray releases and many more, that you may have missed in the last seven days, arranged in an accessible manner. Just browse and click the article titles you want to read. Read the full article to check out the weekly summary.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Six new clips have been released for "The Giver", the adaptation of Lois Lowry's book of the same name. Directed by Phillip Noyce ("Salt"), the film stars Brenton Thwaites, Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Alexander Skarsgard, Katie Holmes, Cameron Monaghan and Taylor Swift.

Five new clips have been released for the comedy "Let's Be Cops" which stars Damon Wayans Jr. and Jake Johnson as two friends who impersonate cops and get themselves into a heap of R-rated trouble. The film is directed by Luke Greenfield ("The Girl Next Door") and it also stars Nina Dobrev, Rob Riggle, James D’Arcy and Keegan-Michael Key.

Today we have six new clips and a behind-the-scenes featurette for Roger Donaldson's action thriller "The November Man". The film stars Pierce Brosnan ("Goldeneye") as an ex-CIA agent who returns for one last mission which sets him against a former pupil (Luke Bracey). The cast also features Olga Kurylenko, Will Patton, Patrick Kennedy and Eliza Taylor.

The first trailer for the sequel "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" has been released. The film continues the story of Sonny (Dev Patel) and his Hotel for the Elderly and Beautiful, but now that his enterprise is quite successful, he's set his eyes on a new promising property. Besides the original cast which includes Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith, the film also features newcomers Richard Gere, Tamsin Greig and David Strathairn.

"The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" opens in theaters on March 6th, 2015.